Passenger
by daryoo
Summary: Some days you're living through the familiar ins and outs of life, the universe seemingly at peace. Other times, a surprise pops out of the blue and shakes your whole world. (Matt reunion fic)
1. Chapter 1

The Garla prison ship was falling apart.

Metal walls were caving in. Explosions shook through the sublevel. The comms gave way to soldiers' commands, the status of their activation long forgotten. Prisoners rushed out of their cells, screaming in equal parts fear and relief as they stampeded their way to freedom.

Chaos was inescapable.

Pidge was at the heart of the sublevel directing ex-prisoners to the safest escape route to the castle. It was a daunting task for someone who could get lost so easily in the crowd, but she personally volunteered to do it. If her family happened to be aboard this ship with Shiro, she wanted to be one of the first to be there.

After what seemed like an eternity, Pidge saw a familiar tuft of white hair at the end of the line of prisoners.

"Shiro!" she called out as she ran towards him.

He turned to the source of his name and lit up the moment he saw her face. Pidge could swear she saw tears forming in his eyes.

A few seconds later they were giving each other the tightest hug imaginable.

"You got my signal," Shiro said.

"Of course we did," Pidge said. "We flew here as soon as we tracked down your coordinates."

"You have no idea how glad I am to see another familiar face."

A blast rocked the end of the hall.

"Come on, we have to get out of here. We wanted to lead a safe rescue, but things got a little complicated," Pidge said.

"What's going on out th- you know what, first things first. I need your help to carry my friend over here outside," he said, nodding towards a weak figure leaning on the wall.

They weren't wearing the standard prison uniform like the rest, instead donning an orange and grey suit. A dark helmet obscured their face from view. A gloved hand clutched their left side, likely to stop an injury from bleeding.

"Can they walk?" she asked.

"Yes, but I don't know how long he can keep it up," Shiro responded.

Pidge nodded and proceeded to placing herself under his free arm. Shiro gently wrapped his arm around the other's right, his prosthetic free to defend the trio if necessary.

The Green Lion was anxiously waiting for their pilots outside, ready to storm in if things became worse than they already were. Luckily, it didn't take long for them to make their way outside.

"Lay him down, I installed a pull-out cot on one of Green's walls," said Pidge when they climbed inside.

From there the rest became routine. She turned on the comms, activated her lion's flight systems, and prepared or take off.

As soon as the connection came through, the rest of the team's yelling filled the small space.

"-still coming," Keith said.

"Then stop them!" Lance shouted.

Another boom was heard in the distance.

"The Taujeer have just informed me that all of the prisoners are aboard their ark," Allura said. "They're ready for takeoff, as long as we can keep the airs clear."

"On it," Hunk said.

"Guys, I'm back online. And I've got Shiro with me," Pidge said.

It was as if if Pidge had just injected life into the entire team. The comms were suddenly filled with overwhelming love and concerned questions from everyone.

"Glad to see you guys too," Shiro said. "I'll catch you all up once we're back at the castle. There's someone I want you to meet."

As if in cue, a loud moan escaped the other prisoner's lips.

"Well, maybe after we patch him up."

* * *

 **I'm back, and boy are you guys in for a wild ride!**

 **I'm going to upload the first two chapters to start getting a sense of everyone's responses, but rest assured that this fic is going to be my child for the next few (insert amount of time I'll be inspired to keep this going).**

 **I know this seems like a really short introduction, but I'll be dividing chapters up at the wil of the plot. I'll be much more detailed when necessary ;)**

 **In the meantime, stay timed for more!**


	2. Chapter 2

After the second round of brief exchanges back at the castle was over, and Coran's scan showed no ailments aside from malnourishment and mild burns, Shiro excused himself so he could shower and finally change into some real clothes.

Pidge left the med bay soon after, not eager to stick around when their guest was suited up for cryo healing. And besides, she and Hunk had a lot of repairs to get to if any of the lions wanted to be at their best.

Toolbox in hand, she made her way to the hangar and got to work.

She hadn't realized she'd fallen asleep under Red's console until someone came over to wake her up. She instinctively punched whoever dare touch her, only to realize it was Keith a few moments later.

"A simple 'but I don't want to go to school' would've been fine," Keith mumbled, rubbing his arm.

"Not startling me would've been fine, too," Pidge said.-

"Well this _is_ my lion, so if anything _I_ should be the grumpy one around here."

Frustration behind her, Pidge playfully stuck her tongue out at him, arms crossed and chin high. It immediately prompted an eye roll and head rub from Keith.

"Anyways, Shiro told me to come get you. There's someone waiting for you in the med bay, and I really don't think you want to keep him waiting," Keith said, a grin making its way to his lips.

Good grief, why was it that everyone on this ship happened to love mysteries?

"Can't you just tell me who else we rescued?" Pidge asked. "The vagueness is getting annoying."

The pair stopped, having finally reached the metal doors to the med bay.

"See for yourself."

And with that he opened the doors for her.

She almost couldn't believe it. In fact, she _couldn't_ believe it.

Sitting on the examination table, a few feet away from Pidge, was the one person she least expected to see.

Matt Holt. Her brother.

"Matt!"

To say he brought tears to her eyes would be an understatement. She was constantly rubbing her eyes as she ran to him so as to not trip and fall.

This couldn't be real. This couldn't be real.

But it was. She wrapped her arms around her brother and held onto him for dear life, a part of her fearing that she'd wake up from her nap and lose him again if she let go. But he was real. He was there, alive and well, in Pidge's arms.

"Matt, you have no idea how much I've missed you," Pidge said between sobs.

It took her a moment to realize that Matt was strangely stiff within her embrace.

Upon the realization, she quickly let go of him. Was he still hurt? Did she accidentally injure him?

Oh. He was squinting. A lot.

"Crap, I forgot you're blind as a bat," she muttered to herself.

She took off her glasses- no, _Matt's_ glasses- and carefully placed them upon their rightful owner's face.

A few blinks later, Matt finally took the time to properly look around at his surroundings. And then his eyes fell on Pidge.

"Holy shit, _is that my sweater?_ "

Memorable first line if anything.

"Hey, it's the only jacket that fit," Pidge said.

"And your- oh God- what happened to your hair? Katie what the heck did you do to make your hair look like a _bird's nest?_ "

"Wait, Katie?" Hunk asked behind them.

"Oh, um," she said, "I kind of took some liberties with my new image. I, uh, had to sneak into the Garrison after you went missing, so I tried to look like a guy."

And in a sudden, dawning moment of realization, the final missing piece of the puzzle sprung into Matt's mind.

"KATIE ELIZABETH HOLT, WHY IN THE WORLD ARE YOU LIGHTYEARS AWAY FROM EARTH?!"

"Busted," Lance whispered to Shiro.

"I-I can explain," Pidge stammered.

"Oh-ho don't worry, there's going to be _a lot_ of that within the next few hours," Matt said, arms crossed in a manner all-too-similar to what the others were used to seeing from their Green Paladin.

The tension was brief though, for soon afterwards Matt was reaching over to give Pidge a hug tight enough to match her own.

"Glad to see you again, Pidgeon," he said.

She missed hearing that nickname. It was the inspiration for her alter-ego, after all. It felt so good to once again hear the original from her brother.

Time seemed to stand still in their embrace, the two siblings crying and smiling and absorbing the moment.

Maybe the rest wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

 **And there we go! Things are really going to start picking up from here.**

 **As you can tell from this chapter, I'll be incorporating many of my own headcanons for the Voltron characters to help push their development in this story. I know there's a lot of things I'm leaving out (like what the Heck was going on during that rescue mission) but I'll get to everything eventually.**

 **In the meantime, I hope you'll stick around for the rest of the story!**


	3. Chapter 3

"So let me see if I understood this." Matt said as he took another sip from his glass, filled to the brim with a space beverage (courtesy of Hunk, of course). He cleared his throat and took a deep breath before continuing.

"The seven of you are all some sort of mystical guardians of the galaxy possessing a psychic bond with giant mechanical space lions from outer space. The two of them are members of an ancient alien civilization that disappeared over ten-thousand years ago, yet they managed to survive mass genocide through the process of cryogenic freezing, the same technology which was used to heal my near-fatal wound over the course of a few hours. And through an unlikely chain of events, which includes rescuing an escaped prisoner of war from a government facility and riding aboard a sentient robotic lion through a wormhole, you all ended up being a part of a war against the Galra Empire, which if I may add have sufficient technology and military resources to destroy entire _planets_ in the blink of an eye."

He got a few nods and thumbs up confirming that what he said was accurate, apparently brushing aside the obvious insanity and danger of their situation.

"Seems about right," Lance said. "Except you forgot to add the part where I mentioned how _awesome_ I was at flying us here."

Keith promptly punched his arm.

Matt slowly set his glass down on the floor next to him. "Wow. Okay, that's-that's a lot to take in all at once," he said.

"Sometimes it's hard even for us to take in the past few months, so it's perfectly fine if you want to take it easy for a bit," Shiro said. _Especially after everything you went through before we rescued you,_ he thought.

"No, no, it's fine," he said. "Well, maybe _fine_ isn't the right word, but surprisingly enough that isn't the strangest news I've gotten since we got stuck out here."

He stared at his glass, mind still reeling. He still had so many questions to ask, most of them about Katie. But that was a conversation they had to have between the two of them, sibling to sibling, not between this ragtag group of teenage soldiers.

"Say Hunk," Allura said, breaking his train of thought, "what exactly is this strange beverage you've prepared for us today? I simply can't get enough of it."

"It's kind of like hot chocolate," Hunk responded. "Of course, I had to substitute some of the key ingredients given our unique circumstance."

Lance turned to look at him with a confused expression plastered on his face.

"Hunk, this thing has ice in it. Isn't hot chocolate supposed to be, oh I don't know, _hot?_ " Lance said.

"And why is it purple?" Pidge added.

"I said it was _like_ hot chocolate," Hunk said. "Jouju berries are the next best thing to cocoa beans out here, hence the color; and if I don't keep them at the right temperature, they could potentially burn your tastebuds off, hence the ice."

And with that Keith promptly set his own glass down as if it were to explode at any second.

Pidge let out an audible chuckle. "Behold, the mighty Red Paladin, Guardian of Fire," she said sarcastically.

"C'mon Keith, it's just a little heat," Shiro said encouragingly. The sweetness of the drink was quite a treat for him especially, having been deprived of his favorite beverage for two years.

"Think of it this way, Young Paladin: hearty and replenishing nourishment is vital after an arduous battle such as today's," Coran said.

Their rescue mission had been one of their mot access up ones yet, but they'd barely managed to escape in one piece.

"Would've been easier if Mullethead over here hadn't decided to blast the Galra ship on sight," Lance said under his breath.

Unfortunately, Keith had still managed to hear him. "Says the guy who carved a hole onto the side of the ship because he lost control of his ice cannon."

"It was an accident!"

"Please stop arguing," Pidge piped in.

"An accident? Was it an accident when you shoved me onto the cargo deck too?"

"Please. Stop arguing."

"YOU JUMPED IN FRONT OF ME!"

"GUYS can you guys just quit it already? You're giving me a migraine for fuck's sake."

They stopped bickering and turned to Pidge, now happily enjoying the silence.

It was only when they saw the relief in her eyes that they realized just how _exhausted_ she really was. Worrying about her family had really put a strain in her, and it was only after finding Matt that she finally began to let herself take a break.

Shiro seemed to notice this too, as he soon got up from his spot and started stretching. "I think we've all had a pretty long day, so how's about we get some rest? We have a lot to think about and a lot of work to do, but none of that will get done if we're tired and cranky."

"I'll have to agree with Shiro on this one," Allira said, getting up as well. "I have to check in with the Taujeer before we can take off again, which will probably take me all night seeing as they'll need help figuring out where to relocate the refugees."

"Hunk and I have got reparations to take care of as soon as possible," Coran pitched in.

"And I have to work on staying as far away from him as possible," Keith said, pointing to Lance.

"Hey!"

After the rest were done describing their plans for the night, Matt mustered up the courage to say something as well.

"Do you have anything you need to get done tonight, Katie? I mean, I just jumped in unexpectedly and you guys all probably have some other stuff to worry about." he asked hesitantly.

She paused and took a good look at him. "I do, actually." She saw his face drop for a split second before she finished her thought.

"I have a brother I need to catch up with."

* * *

 **I had a slow weekend, ao this chapter got doen pretty soon.**

 **I wanted to give each character a little time to shine in between the obligatory "okay what the heck did I miss" moment. Hopefully I can start cranking out some plot-heavy chapters out soon once I establish the changing dynamic.**

 **a/n: I went back to the previous chapter and relized I misspelled "pigeon" as "pidgeon", but I think I like it better that way ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

The two newly-reunited siblings were sitting across from each other at the top of one of the castle's viewing towers. The chamber was small and cramped, but they were surrounded by stars in every direction.

They'd sat there in silence for a near eternity, too dumbfounded and emotional to know where to start.

"Why'd you come after me?" Matt finally asked.

"You say that as if I'd take Garrison's bullshit excuses as fact," Pidge said.

"Well, maybe you should have. You'd be safer that way."

"Matt, I'm not a kid anymore. I'm old enough to pick my own battles and defend myself without having to hide behind my family's decisions," she said.

"You could get _killed_ , Katie. I chose to go on that mission to Kerberos for exploration purposes and was well aware of the risk of not coming back home. You, on the other hand, came out here on impulse without thinking the consequences through."

Pidge took a good look at Matt. She found it hard to believe that these words were coming from him, the person who would do anything for family without a second thought. He should've known better than anyone how difficult of a position she was forced into.

"I didn't choose to get myself stuck in outer space, but I _did_ choose to stay. You have no idea how close I was to quitting the team. Even if I had left Voltron, I wasn't going back home without finding you and Dad first."

More silence.

"And Mom? Have you stopped to think about how your absence is affecting her? She's probably worried sick about you, if he even knows you're alive. If you weren't staying for yourself you should've at least done it for her."

"She knew I was going to go look for you guys eventually. Besides, she knows I can take care of myself."

Matt ran his fingers through his hair, his frustration showing itself through his actions. "She trusts you to clean and cook, not fight a goddamn _war_. You can't expect them to give out permission slips for this kind of shit."

"You're acting as if I'm the bad guy around here," Pidge exclaimed, "when we both know that if our places had been switched you'd do the same thing for me in a heartbeat." Tears were already prickling the edges of her eyes. "I wasn't going to just give up on you, not when there was a chance you might've still been alive."

Matt released a sad chuckle. "So I guess this means you're still a hot headed idiot, huh?"

"Not as big of one as you are," Pidge muttered.

Her hands were starting to shake. She reached to her face to push her glasses up out of habit, only to remember they were no longer there.

"Want these back?" Matt asked, taking his glasses off.

"What? No, they're yours," she said. "Besides, they're not even my own prescription."

"Here, take 'em. I don't need them anyways."

"Matt, you're literally as blind as a mole without those. My eyesight sucks, but I can do without."

He scratched the back of his neck. He suddenly seemed oddly fixated on his shoes.

He was only ever this awkward when he was thinking of a way to say something without angering her.

"I, uh, I-I was going to tell you eventually, but I guess now's as good a time to say it as any."

"Tell me what?" Pidge asked warily.

Matt closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "You're probably gonna kill someone over this," he said under his breath.

Pidge let out a gasp when he opened them. His irises were glowing. They looked as if a hot stove were trapped inside of them, the golden tint of his eyes no longer _his_.

"Matt, w-what- how-" she reached out at first, but then retracted her arm in...fear?

"When I got out of the cryo pod, I couldn't see because these things couldn't process of the sudden change in light, not because of my shitty nearsightedness," he explained. "The glasses helped reflect some of that light while I got used to it, but I can see fine on my own now."

He blinked again and the glowing disappeared, as if it had never been there in the first place.

"I guess Shiro wasn't the only one those bastards stole from."

At this point Pidge was crying, her hands to her mouth in a poor effort to hide the hitches in her sobs. He felt a pang of guilt, but it was beter to tell her now than have her find out on her own.

"But that's not all, folks," he said bitterly. He pulled up his left pant leg to reveal a metal prosthetic, its design and metal matching Shiro's arm.

"When I get my hands on Zarkon, I swear I'm going to make him pay for all of this," Pidge said between tears.

Matt picked up his glasses again. He gently pulled Pidge's hands away from her mouth and set the glasses in them, wrapping her fingers around the frame.

"I know you want to keep me safe, but sometimes things are going to happen to us no matter what." He could still feel her shaking. "Please, promise me you won't get yourself too tangled up in this mess. I don't know if I could live with myself if any of this happened to you."

Pidge let go if the glasses and her brother's hands to wrap him in an embrace. Her crying had broken into an ugly mess of tears and sobs again.

"I-I promise I'll keep myself safe, b-but I'm not going to l-let those stupid Galra get away with any of this. I need t-to stop them before they keep hurting a-anyone else like this."

For once Matt didn't argue with Pidge's stubbornness. In all honesty a part of him wanted revenge, too. And as long as he could get his sister back home safely, he supposed he could take a few detours along the way.

The two stayed in the tower for the rest of the night, and at one point Pidge fell asleep in Matt's arms. He let her be and tried to relish in his first night of near-restful sleep.

Unfortunately some say optimism is a trait of the foolish.

* * *

 **Slow but steady.**

 **Canon says that Pidge kept the lenses on Matt's glases, so I figured that they at least had similar eyesight problems, else she'd probably trip every time she tried to walk. Either that or the lenses were fake, but then where's the fun in that?**

 **I'll try to put the next chapter up soon, but AP testing is coming up so no guarantees :(**


	5. Chapter 5

Matt woke up the next morning with a slight limp and a migraine from hell.

Katie had already left the tower without him by the time he was up. Without a guide to lead the way, he spent most of his morning trying to figure out how to navigate his way back to the main floor. Replaying the stored recording of his way upstairs only did so much when his retinal software depended so heavily on organic memories.

He found the dining room after about a varga of walking up and down halls.

Unfortunately, it was empty and without any visible signs of previous use.

"It's almost noon in Earth hours, why the hell hasn't anybody had breakfast yet?" he wondered aloud.

The last he'd cared to track meal schedules on the ship, he figured out that he was only ever fed at about 4 in the afternoon. Now that he was finally free, he was anxious to eat something other than black, oily paste. He figured the rest of the team wouldn't mind if he got a headstart on his meal.

After finishing up the heavenly green goo, he restarted his search for life.

Eventually he arrived at the training deck, where lo and behold the others were there in the middle of a group training session.

"Aim higher, Keith," Allura called from the end of the room, "the bot is practically tossing Hunk across the room!"

Keith did as he was told and landed a critical hit on the bot's shoulder. The damage was sufficient to slow it down while Hunk gave the final blow with his cannon blaster. Defeated and almost completely destroyed, the bot shut down and removed itself from the ring.

Hunk and Keith deactivated their weapons and gave each other a high five.

"Am I interrupting?" Matt asked from the doorway when the duo exited the ring.

"Not at all," Shiro said. "In fact, Lance and Pidge are about to go up next."

Matt couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at his sister's self-designated identity. The possibilities for Pokemon jokes in the near future were simply too good to resist for long.

With excited grins, the two Paladins in question summoned their bayards (that's what they were called, right?) and made their way to the center of the ring.

Coran gave a run-through of the activity once more for Matt's sake. "The first part of this exercise is a practice in observation and predictive strategy," he said. "Two Paladins go in and battle each other until one is disarmed; of course, there is no risk of any real harm as it is simply a sparring match, but please don't overdo it."

He directed a quick glance at Katie to make sure she paid attention to what he just said. She merely replied with a shrug.

"The more you can figure out about your enemy's fighting style on the battlefield, the better, and what better way to practice than battling other skilled fighters such as your teammates?" Lance flashed a cocky grin at that, only to be immediately shut down by a punch in the arm.

"The second round, which you observed a bit of as you came in, young Matt, is a good old-fashioned gladiator fight. Wither work together in synchrony to defeat it, or gain some nasty bruises in the process."

 _Can't be as bad as the arena_ , Matt thought with disdain.

With the explanation done, the match was underfoot.

"Ready? Begin!"

At first one would think that Lance's gun would have given him an unfair advantage over Katie's grapple, but she was dodging blasts left and right. Lance was a skilled sniper, he'd give him that, but Katie's size and agility made her a difficult, if not annoying, target.

She even managed to bounce some blasts back in Lance's direction and scratch his armor.

The exchange didn't last long, though. Lance clipped Katie's hand, making her to drop her bayard in surprise. Angry, she charged her way straight into Lance, bent down, and kicked his feet out from under him as she slid through. Allura had no choice but to call it off before they started pulling at each others' hair like little kids.

Round Two was apparently routine practice to them, and therefore not very exciting-though at one point Katie wrapped her bayard around the bot's legs so Lance could get a clear, uninterrupted shot at its metal groin.

"Good job guys," Shiro congratulated them as they walked to the water station. "Although I think you _might_ want to choose your target area a little more wisely."

"It'll hurt 'em, won't it?" Lance said.

Allura stepped into the middle of the ring next, retractable spear in hand. "Shall we, Shiro?"

He activated his arm and made his way opposite to her.

"Wait," Matt interrupted.

 _I'm going to regret this won't I?_ he thought.

"Do you mind if I give it a go too? I mean, if I'm going to be stuck out here I might as well polish up my self-defense skills," he continued, trying to hide his rising worry.

 _Oh sweet Moses, Shiro is going to pummel me and I'll never hear the end of it._

Shiro turned to Allura, who in turn nodded in agreement. "Alright," he said, "let's see what you've got."

Allura put her spear away and returned to the sideline once more.

Hunk activated a hidden panel in the wall, revealing an arsenal of spare weapons. There was one of almost any weapon he could think of, but Matt's metal eyes fell to a slim dagger with a slightly curved blade.

Had he been given that choice two years ago, he would have chosen something that could serve for defense as well; but now he was unwillingly conditioned strictly for offense. Close combat had never been his strength even at the Garrison, but he didn't think he'd be as swift with a weapon of greater range.

Matt took the weapon before he could dwell on it any longer. He quickly put on a spare suit of armor and got into position.

"Ready?"

Shiro dropped his calculating expression for a split second, just long enough to give him reassuring energy. His eyes pleaded Matt not to hurt himself, physically or emotionally. If anyone on the ship knew the trauma of capture as well as Matt did, it was Shiro.

"Begin!"

Matt was slow at first, until a force that was not his own began to guide his movements. He started getting really into the fight; once adrenalin started coursing through his veins, tactical strategy gave way for primal instinct.

In hindsight, maybe he shouldn't have pit himself against an ally so soon after being released from the hell he'd been trapped in for two years. A part of him knew he still shouldn't be trusted.

But it was a little too late to step down.

Most of the battle was a blur to him. He remembered fading in and out of awareness, some moments real and others simply a sudden memory of the arena. One instance he was fighting Shiro, and the next it was simply another alien slave in front of him. A slave whose defeat equated another day of life.

It's as if it weren't really _him_ out there. Someone had simply put him on autopilot and set him loose, hungry for carnage.

He didn't even hear the others' desperate pleas when at one point they practically begged him to stop fighting. The spectators were worried about _something_ , but he couldn't stop- _wouldn't_ stop-fighting. His life depended on putting on a show.

Next thing he knew, someone was pinning him down. The curved dagger was forced out of his iron grip before he could swing at his assailant.

So much for teambuilding.

* * *

 **(I need a t-shirt that says 'I survived AP testing')**

 **This ended up being finished wayyyy sooner than I had anticipated, but I came up with very specific wording for a line at like 1 in the morning and my brain wouldn't shut up until I wrote it down. The rest kind of just flowed into existance afterwards.**

 **I write in third-person limited, so often you'll notice that my chapters will switch from addressing 'Pidge' to 'Katie'. This is intentional, and it depends on which character we're following along with.**

 **Expect another update some tine this week, althoigh I'm just as anxious as you to see where this goes.**

 **My thought process behind the second paragraph might be a little confusing, so here's a quick rundown to prevent future confusion:**

 **In this fic** **Matt's eyes were replaced by thr Galra, as we found out in the previous chapter. The tech behind them is much more advanced than what was used for his leg and Shiro's arm since even biological eyes are extremely sophisticated. They can glow at will, which doubles as a flashlight (although there's really no need for the glowing since they can adjust to any level of light after a while. so. night vision.). In the time it takes to adjust, however, they're extremely sensitive to light. They're wired into his nervous system, as I assume the other orosthetics are too, making rhe eyes a sort of mini computer. Matt can record video and either play it back in his head or project it for others, but only things he pays attention to will be stored-in other words, memory _quality_ is improved, not quantity.**

 **I could pribably go on for hours, but I think that's everything relevant up to this point.**


	6. Chapter 6

Keith, Matt, and Lance were sitting silently by the wall farthest to the door. With their scowls and juice pouches in hand, a stranger would think that Matt was a six-year-old being babysat after being put in time out.

Although, given the circumstances that wouldn't be a far-fetched assumption.

Not a peep had emerged from the trio since the others left to the medbay.

Of course, Lance wasn't one for long silence; he was the first to break it, albeit in no way smoothly.

"So," he calmly said, "why'd you try to kill Shiro?"

Keith immediately spit out his drink. He may not be a pro with people but holy hell that was terrible.

Matt released an exasperated sigh. "Listen, I keep telling you I don't remember what happened," he defended. "I've tried to replay the fight dozens of times but it comes up blank every time."

"Replay?" Keith asked suspiciously.

"How many times will I have to explain this within the next couple hours?" he wondered aloud.

"The Galra are shitheads and decided it would be oh-so-fun if they installed high-tech robot eyes into my sockets. I can videotape events in my head, but only if I'm aware and attentive while they happen."

"So you're memory's saying you weren't really here here during the fight, no? Kinda like dissociating?" Lance asked.

"More or less, my friend."

"I'll believe that when weblums dance," Keith said under his breath.

Matt groaned. "Really? What will it take for you to trust me when I say I didn't want to hurt Shiro to the point ofsending him to the infirmary?"

"Seeing is believing, pal," Keith said.

Alright. Matt sat back and projected his mental recordings for the two. Just as he had seen in private, the encounter was clipped and incomplete, with only static-filled traces of the fight stored in his memory.

The recordings eventually shifted to Keith tackling and disarming him, Allura running to Shiro's aid, and Hunk rushing to pick up the stray chips of torn metal that had been torn from his prosthetic. Katie wasn't close enough to Matt's line of vision from his position on the floor, but he could almost guarantee she was a mess.

He turned off the projection, the rest of the afternoon having taken off from there.

"Now," he said, "can someone please tell me what I did and how much I have to apologize to Shiro for?"

Matt almost laughed at the prospect of an apology session. If he'd lashed out as violently as he feared he did, nothing he said or did would replace the image of the monster he left in the others' heads. 'Sorry' wouldn't do much to regain their trust.

"Well for starters," Keith said, some venom still in his voice, "You practically pierced a dagger straight through his arm. We have no idea what long-term effects that level of damage could have on Shiro, but for now Hunk and Pidge are going to try to fix him up on their own."

Matt tried not to think much of the emphasis on 'try'.

"You also managed to tear his shirt and give him more than enough nasty cuts than any of us would have liked," Lance added matter-of-factly.

"Not to mention the bruises your metal foot left behind."

Matt buried his face in his hands.

For a whole day he'd actually convinced himself that he could be more than a Galra fighter. Apparently he was wrong.

His head was swimming. That seemed to be happening more often than usual these days.

"I need to go see him," he said.

"While Allura's watching him like a hawk? Perdón, pero es una misión suicida," Lance said.

Keith rolled his eyes. "She'll understand."

"You mean like how she understood that you being part-Galra made no difference to your role as a Paladin?"

"Wait, what?" Matt interjected.

"It's nothing," Keith quickly said, face turning a slight shade of red. "That's a conversation for another day."

Just as Matt was about to push for more information, Coran came into the training deck.

"I came to give you all the news," he said. "Shiro's finally out of the pod. His arm, however, is in a much more...difficult state, to say the least."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Lance said.

"Sorry lad, but I'm afraid even we're having some trouble figuring out how to operate that level of advanced technology."

The two Paladins exchanged a concerned look. If the resident techies couldn't patch him up, what the hell were they supposed to do?

"I can help," Matt said.

Coran couldn't hide his discomfort with the offer. "I, uh, don't believe we need of your services at the moment, young one. I'll just return in a varga or two and give you three any more news as it develops."

He was already making his way to the door, but Matt got up and started following him.

"Really, I think I can help you guys. I figured out how to reverse engineer my foot whenever I was given time alone. From what I was able to find out from the other prisoners our prosthetics all share similar hardware designs to some extent."

Coran hesitated. Eventually, however, he gave in.

"I suppose we could use an extra set of hands," he conceded. "But I will warn you, I'm not sure this is the time to play guessing games."

…..

Shiro was seated on one of the spare medbay couches, Katie and Hunk to either side of him, Allura behind. His prosthetic arm was resting limp on his lap over a towel. Hunk had another one on his, this one home to a pile of wires, screws, and metal scraps.

The collective tension in the air was almost palpable.

The four looked up when Matt and Coran entered the room. Allura presented visible distaste, but the others were somewhat relieved at the sight of them.

Matt wasted no time. "Shiro, words cannot express how deeply sorry I am for injuring you. I promise not to go anywhere near you from now on if you so wish-"

"I'm not holding this against you."

"-but I ask that you allow me to- wait, come again?" he asked.

"I said I'm not holding this against you," he repeated, reassurance in his voice.

Allura herself seemed as taken aback as Matt, but she was probably still holding back a few nasty comments directed to their newcomer. Hunk and Katie didn't seem surprised, almost as though they had expected Shiro to leave it behind them.

"But-but I almost killed you! And to make things worse I wasn't even aware of it. You can't seriously tell me everyone's fine with carrying a sociopath aboard your ship," Matt said.

Allura took a step towards to Matt. "Well-"

"First off, you're not a sociopath," Katie interrupted, glaring at Allura. "Second, you really think we haven't gone through enough ourselves to understand how mentally draining this mess is?"

Hunk leaned forward in his seat. "My dude, we've been living a nightmare for over a year-"

Shiro put two fingers up.

"-well, two for some of us-"

"How's about ten thousand years," Coran pitched in.

"Fine. We've all been living a nightmare for way longer than we should. It's not like our heads are in pristine condition anymore, and honestly most of us are probably missing a screw or two."

"It takes time and support to come back from these things, Matt," Shiro said. "Even I'm not done healing and I spent half of the time you did in there. You don't have to fake your way out of your struggles."

Matt stared at his feet. They were lying to make him feel better weren't they? Softening him up before telling him he was getting dropped off at the nearest planet? They couldn't be that accepting, could they?

"How's about you take it easy from now on?" Shiro asked.

He supposed he was going to have to gamble his chances for the time being. "I'll try."

"Good. Now how's about you help us out over here."

The repairs were a welcoming distraction from the inevitable awkwardness Matt felt fixing his own mess. As computers offered for his sister, machines let him release his energy and worries on something productive.

From the looks of the damage, the dagger pierced through about an inch of the prosthetic. It cut through a handful of wires, now in Hunk's custody, and tore off some of the outer sheet of metal on its way back out.

Upon closer inspection, he also noticed that two small fuses had been shattered.

"I can figure out which wires go where in a jiffy, do some welding too, but I'm not sure if we can replace these fuses," he announced. "I suppose they're responsible for your arm's hyper-thermal capabilities seeing as I've never once seen them in my foot, but 20 bucks says we can't just run to the space equivalent of the Home Depot and pick up a spare."

"Can't we just make one? Hunk figured out how to make scaultrite lenses out of cookies that time we tried to fix the teleduv, so I'm sure we can figure something out," Katie said.

"Don't know what that is, but I hope it's glass," Matt said.

"Last I checked we're a few quintants away from the Jauktie system, so we might have a chance of finding something useful at their market," Allura said.

"Then I guess that means we're going shopping," Hunk said.

"Aha! Then I suppose that means I get to pick out our outfits again, right fellas?" Coran asked.

They all groaned shook their heads, save for a confused Matt.

"With Coran the Fashion Guru at the helm, there was no way we'll make it out of the shopping trip alive this time," Katie whispered to him jokingly.

"Alright then, I'll set the coordinates for the Jauktee market," Allura said. "In the meantime, I suppose you should all start heading down for breakfast seeing as this isn't the best time to continue our training."

She passed Matt on her way out. He could have sworn he saw the faintest of frowns form on her lips as she made eye contact with him.

* * *

 **The long overdue 6th chapter is here! Only a few weeks later than I had promised but I'm blaming my previously virus-filled computer for that.**

 **Updates are going to be a little more spread out for a while (on purpose this time, sorry). I'm taking up a summer job and I'm not sure how often I'll have the time to write. If it's of any consolation though this chapter is the longest so far, almost twice as long as the first one :)**

 **Side note: Did I purposefully include a hint of shipping in the background? Maybe if you squint, idk man. That's up to you.**


	7. Chapter 7

Just as Allura had promised, a quintant of flight eventually brought them to Kuma, a planet at the heart of the Jauktie cluster.

The castle hovered above their orbit for about a varga before the Kawuman emperor finally gave them the okay to land. Of course, there was nothing in intergalactic law prohibiting them from landing anyways, but that wasn't exactly the first impression they wanted to give to an alien race notorious for being...well, drastic.

"We've dealt with many differences in cultures before, but today we ought to be especially conscious of how we carry ourselves," Allura said. "The Kawuman are very passionate people, which can be both a blessing and a curse."

They landed the castle in an open field about a mile from the nearest village hub; it was close enough to see the castle from afar, but at a safe distance from paranoid villagers.

"I'm picking up mixed vibes whenever you say 'passionate'," Lance said. "Are we talking 'this is my life's work' kind of passionate or 'hey I'm Keith, steal my knife and I'll hunt you down to the other side of the galaxy' passionate?"

"Or by chance is it more of a 'hello my name is Lance, I have an unhealthy obsession with Ariana Grande' kind of passionate?" Keith said.

Lance gasped incredulously. "You were looking through my stuff again _weren't you_?"

"Do we seriously have to babysit you two today?" Shiro said, rolling his eyes.

"To put it bluntly Lance," Allura said, "the Kawuman are stubborn and hell-bent on getting their way. They're the 'I'll die for my opinions' kind of passionate."

"I'd try not to spend too much time holding a non-formal conversation with them if I were you," Coran said. "They can easily get offended if you take a wrong step, and trust me the aftermath can be quite a bit messy." He shuddered at the memory of his last visit to Kuma. He still had memories of one of the shopkeepers chasing him and threatening him with a chunk of meat.

"So basically just do what you gotta do and get out of there asap," Pidge said.

"Precisely," Allura said.

"Wait, how are we supposed to communicate with them?" Matt asked. "Shouldn't language barriers be, like, a thing in outer space?"

"Trust me bud, we've spent weeks trying to figure that one out and we still haven't come up with a convincing explanation," Hunk said.

"You'll be able to understand them, just don't give it much thought as to how or else your brain might explode," Pidge said.

"Should I be concerned? I have a feeling I should be more concerned about this," Matt said. A part of him wanted to keep prying, the idea of universal communication far too unlikely; but honestly, he did not have the energy to try to piece together the logic of intergalactic linguistics, so blind acceptance it was.

They walked for a bit longer before finally reaching a giant stone wall surrounding the village. It towered above their heads like a tsunami, the only hint of what was inside being a giant watch tower behind the entrance.

"Paranoid much?" Lance said.

They walked through the gates, surprisingly enough, without much questioning from the guards.

"I propose we divide and conquer," Shiro said, eyeing one of the guards warily. The scaly creature pretended to keep a watch on the outside, but Shiro caught him sneaking glances at him and the others. "We'll cover more ground and draw less attention to ourselves. If anything happens just comm the rest of us and we'll be there as soon as possible."

"I call going with Keith," Hunk said, determined to keep his hotheaded friend away from knife shops. They did _not_ want to piss off an angry weapons dealers.

"I'm going with Allura," Lance said.

"I know the ins and outs of the market like the back of my hand, so I can guide Matt through this one if he's alright with that," Coran said. Matt nodded, a little worried he'd be dead weight for the others anyways.

"Then I guess that means Pidge and me will team up," Shiro said.

"Remember our focus is the fuse for Shiro's prosthetic, so refrain from spending on other things this time," Allura said. Well, in Pidge's defence she did actually figure out how to hook up their game console to the castle; it's not _her_ fault it fried their power grid after plugging it in. And besides, Kaltenecker gave them milk sometimes, albeit of questionable color.

"How are exchange rates going to work? Do we even have money?" Matt asked. Was no one going to point out how oddly convenient everything was turning out to be?

"Taken care of," Coran said, pulling out a small burlap sack.

"Then we're good to go," Keith said. "Let's get this over with before we piss off any lizard people." He reached into Coran's sack and pulled out a handful of green coins. He split them between himself and Hunk, then put his share in his pocket. The others promptly did the same.

"Keep track of time guys, we'll meet back here in about two vargas or so," Shiro said. "And make sure you've got an on your partner. We don't want anyone getting into trouble."

* * *

 _ **Guess who's back.**_

 **Some unexpected stuff has been happening over the summer so I was just never really in the head space to update. Luckily, season 3 dropped like a god sent and gave me enough writing juice to pull out my doc file. I'm trying to work on pacing, so if this chapter seemed a little uneventful it's because I don't want to just rush in like I've done in the past.**

 **Thank you guys so much for the reviews! I'm not the best at replying but know that I've read them all and appreciate the time you've spent following along, it's really pushed me to keep going with this.**

 **In other news, I hear season 4's dropping in October so let's see long it takes for that much needed Matt screen time to bless us and officially sucker punch this fic into AU land. Please Dreamworks, I will give you my soul in exchange for the safe return of my space son.**


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